Identity

What do you identify as?

James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.”

John 7:1–8 “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.””

Mark 3:20–25 “Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

Acts 1:14 “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”

4. James as a Leader in the Church

Recognized authority in Jerusalem

Acts 12:17 “But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.” Peter instructs that his escape be reported specifically to James.

Acts 15:11–15 “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,” James delivers the final, decisive judgment at the Jerusalem Council.

Apostolic recognition by Paul

Galatians 1:17–22 “nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.”

“I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.”

Galatians 2:9 “and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” James is named as one of the “pillars” of the church.

A Jewish Paul: The Messiah’s Herald to the Gentiles Chapter 1: Making Paul Weird Again

Admittedly we also are comfortable with speaking of Jesus as the Messiah, but whereas we speak of Jesus Christ regularly, almost as though Christ is Jesus’s last name, we rarely speak of Jesus the Messiah

James knew how people talk the talk but not walk the walk

He knew how about faith with deeds is dead

He knew about partiality and favoritism

He knew how to see the the world’s definition of being worthy vs not (not introducing himself as the brother of jesus but rather a follower/servant of Jesus the Christ)

Lets talk about the tongue -

It is the instrument of what is inside even deeper in the heart

James 3:9–11 “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?”